My father, now passed on, told horror stories about how he and fellow servicemen were treated by the Red Cross back in WWII. I chalked up his stories to the fogs of war, time, and, finally, dementia. I also paid attention, because the stories started long before time influenced and dementia stole.

Fast forward. Remember Haiti? Turns out my father was right about non-response, waste, and corruption — both internal and local. One of our last discussions about respectable journalism pointed out the reliable investigative work done by ProPublica. Read what they found:

The Red Cross raised $500 million for Haiti and built six homes.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF CAMPECHE sprawls up a steep hillside in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Goats rustle in trash that goes forever uncollected. Children kick a deflated volleyball in a dusty lot below a wall with a hand-painted logo of the American Red Cross.

In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for 'A Better Life in My Neighborhood' — was building hundreds of permanent homes.

Today, not one home has been built in Campeche. Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.

The Red Cross received an outpouring of donations after the quake, nearly half a billion dollars.

The group has publicly celebrated its work. But in fact, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti. Confidential memos, emails from worried top officers, and accounts of a dozen frustrated and disappointed insiders show the charity has broken promises, squandered donations, and made dubious claims of success.

The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people. But the actual number of permanent homes the group has built in all of Haiti: six.After the earthquake, Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern unveiled ambitious plans to 'develop brand-new communities.' None has ever been built.